“But as I said, as long as every player for the Roosters team, and even the Kangaroos team, if you’ve got a selfless mindset to have a team first mentality and do everything you can possibly do to make the team as good as it can be, and you’ve got everyone rowing in the same direction, well you enjoy coming to training because everyone’s buying in to the common cause.”

Cronk’s signing with the Roosters has sent speculation into overdrive around the futures of Pearce and Luke Keary, with both considered candidates for a bench spot or the exit door.

Pearce met with coach Trent Robinson on Monday in a bid to get clarity on what his role will look like in 2018 and that conversation is likely to guide his next step.

However, if that is to ask for a release and an opportunity to continue wearing a No.7 jersey at another club, Cronk says he would be disappointed.

“I won’t go into particulars about what transpired but I will tell you this, one of the reasons for me to sign and to play with the Roosters next year was to play with Mitchell Pearce,” Cronk said.

“I think he’s got an arsenal of weapons that not too many halves have in this game and I think he has the ability to be a dominant force in the halves for years to come.

“There’s a few areas I think I can help him and I know there’s areas of his game that he’s better equipped than me and he can teach me.

“So this is going to be a two-way street, at no stage am I thinking of going to the Roosters 2018 team and taking over and wanting to be front and centre because that’s not my personality, I play team first, I like to think I help guys around me do their job as best as they possibly can and at the end of the day Trent Robinson is the coach of the Sydney Roosters and I will fall into line.”

In fact, Cronk even suggested he would be happy to take a back seat to Pearce and Keary and sit on the bench if Robinson thinks that will give the Roosters the best chance for success.

“And if I’m not in the best halves in round one or round 26 or whenever, I will sit on the bench and do whatever I have to do to make this team play the best it possibly can,” Cronk said.

“I think the Roosters 2018 team is better with Luke Keary and Mitchell Pearce involved.”

Of course, Nick Politis and Robinson haven’t written a $2 million cheque with a bench role in mind for Cronk, which is why Pearce and Keary have some serious thinking to do.

Cronk’s not naive to what would be going through their heads, and despite an assuring phone call to Pearce on Monday, he admitted “it’s basically up to him”.

“I’m not here to convince or preach because at the end of the day Mitchell Pearce has been front and centre of what the Roosters have done for a long time,” Cronk said.

“Most of it is positive. That’s why I said that one of the reasons I wanted to come was the calibre of players they have and the roster they have. But it’s basically up to him.”